This invention relates to stretcher type devices used to transport accident victims, in particular, to stretcher type devices used to transport injured victims who have been exposed to hazardous materials.
The transportation of injured victims exposed to hazardous materials poses unique challenges for emergency service personnel. The victim must be removed safely and quickly from the area of the hazardous material. Then, the victim must be decontaminated. The purpose of decontamination is to remove the hazardous material from the exposed victim and to dilute the chemical to the point where it no longer poses threat of injury or harm to an individual. Finally, the victim must be transported to appropriate medical treatment facilities by ambulance, helicopter, or other appropriate means.
Current procedures require that an exposed, injured victim be moved from the location of exposure to a decontamination point using a stretcher type device. At the decontamination point, the victim may be transferred to a decontamination table. Following decontamination, the victim is transferred to a second uncontaminated stretcher type device.
Although attempts have been made to decontaminate an injured victim without the necessity of transferring the victim to a decontamination table and/or a second uncontaminated stretcher type device thereafter to reduce further injury, further improvements in prior art stretcher designs are still needed to meet this desire.